Broken
by Winchestergirl67
Summary: Sisfic. Part of the Kate Winchester stories- Kate has been out of the life for almost two years until one night she shows up on her brother's doorstep, completely devastated and in need of the only two people she has left.


_A one-shot for the Kate readers out there, the idea from my friend because apparently she seems to like it when the poor girl suffers. Anyway, hope you like it and thank you for reading! :-)_

Sam ran a hand over his tired face, blinking hard and refocusing his vision before he closed his laptop, pretty sure that he wasn't finding he and his brother another hunt tonight. He looked up curiously as someone knocked on the door of their motel room, a small frown forming on his face. He picked up his gun from the table and crossed the room, pulling open the door and raising his eyebrows when he saw his sister. It had been almost six weeks since he'd last seen her, when he and Dean had passed through town and stayed at her place for a week. She'd been out of hunting for almost two years now, living in Indiana with a guy she'd met and their daughter, Tyler. Kate took a couple of seconds before she managed to look up at him. She didn't look herself. Her usual bright green eyes were dull and bloodshot, almost black circles underneath them. Her face looked pale and emotionless. She looked broken. "Kate?" Sam pressed quietly, taking a second to look behind her, seeing that she was alone.

"Hey Sam." She managed to say, her voice cracking as the words left her mouth. Without waiting for him to say anything else, she moved passed him and walked into the motel room, dropping her bag to the floor with a thud and picking up the bottle of whiskey from the table as she dropped into one of the chairs.

"Kate, what's going on?" He asked her, the concern in his chest rapidly increasing to a feeling of genuine terror. It had been a long time since he'd seen her look the way she looked now. He could see without asking that something had happened to her, something that had shaken her and seriously disturbed her. Something that was serious enough for her to drive six states over to find them. "Where are Craig and Tyler?" He asked her slowly.

It was then, at the mention of Tyler's name that her expression changed completely. Her face went from blank and emotionless to one of complete pain and horror, her eyes suddenly filling up with tears as the mask that she used to hide everything crumbled. She clenched her jaw as she placed the bottle on the table in front of her, her eyes fixed on the wall behind him while she still refused to look at him. "I'm sorry." She whispered, shaking her head as she stood up quickly. "I shouldn't have come here."

"Kate, what-" He grabbed her around the arm gently and pulled her around to face him.

"Please, I just need some air." She muttered, sounding as though she wanted to get out of there as fast as she could, he assumed before she began crying. She tugged her arm free from his grip and made her way towards the door, pulling it closed behind herself.

"Dammit." Sam sighed deeply and picked up his jacket from the chair he'd dumped it on and followed where his sister had just left, walking out onto the parking lot and looking around slowly. Not knowing where she'd gone, he picked a random direction and began walking. He'd made it about six blocks from their motel when he heard someone yelling his name.

"Sam!" He turned around to see Dean walking down the street towards him, obviously having been on his way back to the motel room. "Where are you going?" He pressed curiously.

Sam looked at him, thinking of the right way to go about telling him what had happened without completely freaking him out. "Kate came by the motel." He began slowly. "Dean, something's wrong. And I mean really wrong."

Dean frowned, a concerned look washing over his face. "What do you mean, wrong? She alright? Is Tyler with her?"

"No. Dean.. I've never seen her look the way she did." He shook his head. "I asked her what was wrong but she wouldn't tell me.. I don't think she could manage to say it. Then she left. Wasn't there for more than thirty seconds."

"Alright, don't panic. We'll split up and look for her." Sam nodded and gave him a small smile before turning and heading back in the direction he'd been going.

Dean walked through the streets of the small town they'd been working their latest job in. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that it had been a ghost and to salt and burn the bones. They'd planned to leave the next morning. He thought back to what Sam had said to him, pushing the growing concern for his sister down as he pulled out his phone and called her number, sighing when it went straight to voicemail. He scrolled up from Kate's number to Craig's before dialing and holding the phone to his ear, shaking his head when that also went straight to voicemail. He opened his mouth to leave a message but stopped, cancelling the call when he saw Kate. She was sitting on a small wall, her back to him, staring ahead at nothing. He turned his attention back to his phone, calling Sam's number. "Dean?" His brother's voice answered, Dean could clearly hear the urgency.

"I found her, meet us back at the motel." He said simply, not even waiting for an answer before he hung up the phone and placed it back into his jacket pocket, making his way over the street towards Kate. As he got closer to her, he noticed that she was smoking a cigarette, something he hadn't seen her do in a long time, and only then had it been the odd one when she'd been completely wasted.

"Kate." He said slowly, not getting any reaction or indication that she'd even heard him. He took another couple of steps towards her until he was standing right next to the wall, the top level with his hip, leaning forwards against it and seeing the pained look on her face. "When did you start smoking?" He asked her, his voice remaining casual as he looked over her carefully.

She looked down at the cigarette in her hand and blew the smoke from her mouth slowly. "Few days ago." She mumbled, raising the cigarette to her lips again.

Dean shook his head and reached out, taking it from her hand and throwing it to the ground. "Well it's a bad habit." He knew something was wrong when she didn't argue or come back with some sarcastic comment. He placed an arm around her and gave her a small reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, the way he used to do when they got into trouble on a hunt, his way of letting her know that he was there and that they'd be alright. He hoped. Deep down he was praying to god that this would turn out to just be a stupid fight she'd had with her boyfriend. But a part of him knew that it couldn't be, since she didn't have Tyler with her. He knew she wouldn't have left her without a seriously good reason. "C'mon, we're going back to the motel." She didn't argue with him, she didn't ask for him to leave her alone or turn and hug him. She simply nodded and swung her legs over the side of the wall before hopping off it and walking passed him down the street to the motel, Dean following her closely as he tried to work out what could have happened to leave his little sister in such a state.

Kate headed into the motel first, her eyes fixed on the floor as she took a seat on the edge of one of the beds. Sam shot Dean a look, getting one back that told him his brother was about as clueless on the situation as he was. He sat down beside her on the bed, placing an arm around her shoulders lightly and looking down at her with a concerned frown on his face. Dean pulled off his jacket and sighed, crossing the room towards them and crouching down in front of Kate. He took a hold of one of her hands and looked up at her face carefully. "Kate.." He stopped, not knowing what to say to her. He went with his instinct, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Kate, where's Tyler?"

"She's.." She stopped, swallowing hard and taking a breath, pushing back the tears. "..gone."

"Gone?" He looked up at Sam who seemed to be holding his breath the same as he was. "What does that mean?" She shook her head, now refusing to look either of them in the face. "Where's Craig?"

"He's dead Dean." She finally looked him in the eyes, for the first time that night. Even though her face was once again completely emotionless, he could see the pain in her eyes. "They're both.." She stopped, refusing to finish her sentence.

Dean looked from Kate to Sam, his face the same picture of shock and horror that he imagined his own looked like. "Kate.." Sam whispered, wrapping both of his arms around her tightly and kissing the top of her head, not having a clue what to say to her. "I'm so sorry."

After a couple of minutes, she shook her head and got to her feet, taking a couple of steps away from them and keeping her back to them. "I should've told him. I should never have-"

"Kate, whatever happened, it wasn't your fault." Dean cut her off bluntly.

"No, I brought a child into this life. I-" She stopped and turned to look at them, unshed tears now shining in her eyes.

"You were out Kate." Sam insisted softly. "You didn't know."

"Well I should've known. I should have never left in the first place. There's no getting out of this life."

"Can you tell us what happened?" He asked her gently.

She waited a couple of minutes before she took a breath and nodded. "I went out to the store, wasn't gone for more that twenty minutes.. he'd offered to go but I said he should stay and watch Tyler.." She trailed off, shaking her head to herself and clearing her throat. "Anyway.. I came back and I went into Tyler's room.. They were both.." The tears now fell down her cheeks silently as she thought back to it. "But the way it looked, he'd spent his last minute trying to protect her.. But there was just, blood everywhere." She stopped and looked up at them. "And sulfur."

Sam looked over at Dean, his face was dark and unreadable, the slight hint of tears shining in his eyes as he listened to her. Sam ran a hand over his own face and took a breath. "Why didn't you call us?" He asked her quietly, almost hurt at the thought that she'd gone through something like that and only found the courage to show up at their door almost a week later.

"I didn't know what to do. I didn't wanna tell you over the phone that your niece was-" She stopped and let out a deep breath. "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I am, but I couldn't. I just needed some time." She finished slowly, her voice barely even loud enough for her to hear herself. "Give me a minute yeah?"

Both Sam and Dean nodded at her, watching as she made her way to the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind herself. Looking over at Dean, Sam could see that his jaw was tightly clenched, his fists squeezed together at his sides. He looked a mix between wanting to cry and wanting to rip something apart. But instead, he remained blank and unreadable. "Don't even think about it Dean." Sam warned, almost certain he knew what Dean was thinking about doing.

He looked up and frowned. "What?"

"I understand you're upset, I am too.. But your sister needs you here, not in a bar somewhere." Dean shook his head, letting Sam know without saying that he wouldn't leave them. He picked up the bottle of whiskey Kate had left on the table and took a long drink, the shock of what she'd told them still sinking into his head. He held out the bottle to Sam who took a drink before handing it back. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped as Kate walked out of the bathroom, looking a little more composed than she had when she'd gone in.

Dean took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her tightly, closing his eyes and fighting to stay calm. "We'll find them Kate, I swear to you." He whispered, his voice determined. "We'll find the bastards that did this to her and we will make sure that they burn in hell for it."

Kate pulled back, squeezing her eyes closed and fighting with everything in her the breakdown of tears she could feel coming. "Yeah." She managed to choke out, pressing a hand to her mouth as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sam looked at her, feeling his heart practically break for her in his chest. He reached out to her and placed a steady arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the couch and sitting beside her, Dean taking a seat on her other side and squeezing her knee lightly. She let out a broken sob, safe in the knowledge that at least she had her brothers with her. Whether that was when they lived up to the promise that Dean had made, and they killed the demons responsible, or whether it was now when they'd sit up with her all night and hold her while she cried, she knew she wasn't alone..


End file.
